The "Sorry we screwed up last week" Gaming Thread

To make up for the missing thread last week, we are here today to give you DOUBLE THE COSPLAY!! And there is gaming also but whatevs

Gaming below.....

I'm The Dude and I'm going in solo this weekend

At Pax East, Capcom announced two re-releases of some games that no one saw coming just a scant two weeks go with the first one up being their Mystara beatem'ups D&D: Shadow over Mystara and it's sequel, D&D: Tower of Doom. Remember dropping token after token into these games at the local Aladdin's Castle and then jizzing my when I read in EGM that Capcom was releasing them as a compilation for the Saturn (which I promptly imported for about $80 and still have around here somewhere). Always wanted to own the boards but I've never seen them sell for less than $200 so I'm stuck playing them on my MAME cabinet. For the genre, these games have held up extremely well with their in-depth Golden Axe template that everyone used at the time. Should be out in June on the PS3, 360 and PC for $15. And though I've always thought Tower of Doom was a slight disappointment, I'll be buying it day 1. Now if only they could be arsed to re-release Battle Circuit.

Capcom's second announced classic is a fullblown HD remake of their classic NES game, Ducktails to be made by WayForward. This property holds a special spot in my heart and I played they hell out of the game (one of the first videogames I saved up by myself and bought). Throw in a digital swimming pool of money and the original cast of the cartoon into the mix and this is another game that I will be buying as soon as it drops sometime during the summer.

Also at Pax East, Firaxis announced that they will in fact be porting X-Com Enemy Unknown to iOS (there was talk of it before last year).

Playdek and Stoneblade has announced the upcoming death of the current Ascension game on the iOS as Stoneblade will be releasing their own version come summer of next year. On one hand, ugh, I don't want to buy everything again but on the other, with Playdek being stretched so thin, this is probably for the better as we should then get the expansions on time as the physical expansions are released. Think I've spent $10 over the years on everything and for the amount of games I've played (typically 4-5 games a day), I can't say it was that bad of an investment. And of course the Immortal Heroes expansion pack is still being released in a couple of months which I'll probably still buy even with this news. Still, it sucks though as with the Stoneblade's only digital game being the Solforge demo, I can't say I have high hopes for their game being as polished as Playdek's app.

Though to make up for it, Playdek has signed a partnership with Wizards of the Coast to make digital versions of the D&D boardgames. But you're still stuck with Playdek having way too much on their plate so who knows when this will bear fruit. That being said, I'd put good money on the first title being Lords of Waterdeep.

BLIZZARD ANNOUNCED A NEW GAME THIS WEEKEND!!! Too bad it's not what people hoped for but I'm geeked on it. They are bringing a cross-platform game inspired by the WoW TCG titled Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. It's free to download and you can get packs of cards through gameplay but it's really going to come down to spending $1 a pack of 5 cards.

We got a new trailer for Vanillaware's Dragon's Crown

Hopefully Atlus brings over that artbook

Furries rejoice, Microsoft is releasing the beautiful one man band Dust: An Elysian Tail on the PC. Creator is aiming for a release in April. I should probably get around to actually finishing this game

In really good news, the Occulus Rift devkits go out this week. May not be getting the Doom pack but they are making it up by a general $20 steam credit.

Kerbal Space Program is now on Steam in their new "Early Access" section that is filled with a few alpha and beta state games. Wish Introversion wasn't trying to get $30 for Prison Architect but having Gnomoria up on Steam is nice

This past week we saw the release of a few good games. The first one is the biggest with People Can Fly taking a stab at the Gears of War Universe in Gears of War: Judgement which is a different but somewhat refreshing breather for this gen's old warhorse (I actually hate to say warhorse as there is only 4 games in the series so far but man does it feel played out already). Also this week, Capcom released a double whammy of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate for the 3DS and Wii U. Not buying it myself as no multiplayer for the 3DS version (don't own a Wii U) and the fact that I've already played it to death on the Wii. And the game of the week was a new entry in the Hyperdimension Neptunia series on the PS3. Actually might pick that up when it hits the bargain bin as though I'm Moe'd out, the series is always fun to play through.

Also, if you have kids, I want to give a shout-out to Fetch on the iPad. Its one of the sweetest point & click adventure games I've ever come across with it's lush visuals and sweet story for fans of children's movies of the 80's and 90's. I say it's for kids as though it may not completely hold your hands in what to do next, the puzzles and arcade games are a breeze so they may not hold the interest of older players. It deserves all the praise and and accolades that it has received.

Not much coming out this week other than Bioshock Infinite (which I'm watching with skepticism with it's troubled development), Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon and the new Tiger Woods which I'm hoping improves the Kinect functionality.

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I go through the Steam Indie sale so you don't have to. And lets be honest, you see 500 or so games on sale and your eyes glaze over.

Terraria - A 2D Minecraft clone that is actually fun to play. Hard not to get enough time to make the $2.50 price worth it. Also coming to the consoles this week for more money.

Amnesia - Do you like horror? Well, this first person adventure game will scare your socks off. Throw in the free sidequest and you have one of the best games of the last few years.

Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale - Though the screenshots may throw you off, this is a pure store management sim with the dungeon crawling to supply your stock in this fantasy setting.

Hotline Miami - 80's retro inspired ultraviolence as a puzzle game. Great soundtrack, great puzzles and hypnotizing. Do wish the game was a bit longer but I got my money's worth out of it. The Mac version was also recently released.

Half Minute Hero: Super Mega Neo Climax Ultimate Boy - What happens when you put together Warioware and 8-bit RPGs? Some of the most fastpaced fun that you will come across. For quick 30 second gameplay, you would be surprised in how much content is actually packed into this game.

the Amanita Collection - You get three whimsical point & click adventure games that have rightfully won countless awards over the years. The puzzles aren't going to make you break your keyboard but the experience is very much worth the cash.

Magical Drop V - the new style may turn you off from this classic series but if you can get over it, you get a pretty damn good new Magical Drop game....even if it did take quite a few patches to make it good.

Analogue: A Hate Story - This really comes down to how you feel about visual novels. It's pure story with no H from Christine Love in this very loosely based sequel to her awesome freeware Digital: A Love Story.

Hacker Evolution Duality - How is your typing? Want to find out in how fast you are wrapped up in a cool hacker vs AI story? Well this is the game to play. Unlike Uplink which was a point & click hacker game, this game is pretty much all text. And for the love of God, I hope your keyboard doesn't have ghosting issues. Would also pick up the DLC which is just an updated version of the first game. Though Duality is good as just a stand alone game, you will miss bits and pieces of the story without playing the first.

Blackwell Bundle - Four great oldschool point & click games of about a medium and her Mike Hammer-esc PI ghost Joey Mallone on the streets of NY. Great deal for $5 if you haven't picked up any of these games through the indie bundles.

Universe Sandbox - Not a game but rather a simulation program of the universe. It has some bugs but they can be overlooked as it still fun to mess around with physics in seeing what would happen if you flick Pluto into planets like a billiards ball. I will say though that, you will need a decent PC as physic calculations will melt your CPU. Even me with a decent CPU (2500k at 4.7 ghz), if I go too crazy, it's quickly brought to it's knees. It's great little science program to give to your kids if they are fellow space cadets.

Delve Deeper - Multiplayer is sadly dead and has been for about a week after release but even as a singleplayer game, this mix of boardgame and RPG is quite the hoot as you place your tiles to get lower into the mine and collect your loot. Game gets pretty hard but the fun of screwing the AI never gets old. And at the cost of it, it's almost impossible to not get your moneys worth.

Puzzle World 2 - Remember those cheap books of old that were filled with puzzles that someone in the car would buy for road trips? Well, this is it but digital. Frankly, you can buy this or the first game but it's all the same. Personally liked the second game more as the new puzzle variations were very much needed half way through the first game but you can't go wrong with either collection puzzles.

Home - It's a buck, even if you only play it once (which I wouldn't recommend), you got your moneys worth. There are a few puzzles but the game is pure story. Each playthrough gives you a part of the story and throw in the story changing depending on what you do and you have a game based for multiple run-through. And though the writing it's exactly top notch, the story is quite a nice yarn.

Unity of Command: Stalingrad Campaign - Though the genre may not be well represented on Steam, this is a really solid SSI type turnbased strategy game with hints of the Nectaris aka Military Madness series. Balance is solid and it looks nice. A lot of content in the game for a measly $10. Personally haven't played the DLC but it's supposed to be money well worth spent as well.

Noitu Love 2: Devolution - Hyperactive sidescroller that throws the kitchensink at you without ever feeling loose with it's k&b controls. Game is 100% crazy and 100% fun and never wears out it's welcome.

Spiderweb Software Complete Pack - How much time do you have? And do you love oldschool iso turnbased RPGs? Even in the 90's, the updated versions of Jeff Vogel's games would be still be considered ugly but what they lack in graphics is made up tenfold with the amount of content packed in each game (looking at 50+ hours each one) and how well balanced the gameplay is. And with the complete pack you get two different flavors as the Geneforge series is more skewed to sci-fi motif (though they do play like their fantasy brothers.

The Sherlock Holmes Collection - If you can get over the jank, some non-intuitive puzzles and some fugly 3D, you're treated to a fun point & click series starring Holmes and a creepy re-appearing Watson. Not gonna lie, there are a couple middling games in this series that I would never personally ever want to play again (looking at you Persian Carpet and Silver Earring) but as a whole, the price is hard to beat as you get Awakened (Holmes vs Cthulhu Cult), Jack The Ripper, Mystery of the Mummy and Nemesis.

Jamestown - I'm not a fan of western developed shmups and not a fan of unlock-able upgrades but I couldn't put this game down when it was released. The bullet patterns are creative (though not exactly hard) and the gameplay is tight. Throw in a decent score system and you've got a decent shmup that will eat some hours.

And now for the weekly cosplay. It's the same girl in both pics:

posted by Gang of Gaming Morons! at 12:20 PM

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